basis of record Huys, R. (2001). Copepoda - Harpacticoida, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 268-280 (look up in IMIS) [details]

Taxonomy Scottopsyllus Kunz, 1962 (Family Paramesochridae)
Kunz (1962: 253) proposed the genus Scottopsyllus to accommodate three species, which originally had been placed in Leptopsyllus T. Scott, 1894b and were subsequently attributed to the robertsoni-group of the genus Paramesochra T. Scott, 1892 (Lang 1948: 872): Leptopsyllus minor Scott & Scott, 1895a; L. robertsoni Scott & Scott, 1895a, and L. herdmani Thompson & Scott, 1900. Since there is no trace of a type fixation in the original publication the genus-group name Scottopsyllus as proposed by Kunz (1962) remains unavailable (nomen nudum). Lang’s (1944: 26) designation of L. robertsoni as type of the robertsoni-group of Paramesochra (strictly speaking the equivalent of Scottopsyllus in Kunz’s (1962) sense) has no nomenclatural significance. The first valid type fixation is that by Apostolov and Marinov (1988: 251) who made the genus available by providing a generic diagnosis (in Bulgarian) that states in words characters that are purported to differentiate the taxon (ICZN Art. 13.1.1) and by fixing Leptopsyllus minor Scott & Scott, 1895a as the type species by original designation (ICZN Art. 13.3). Consequently the genus-group name should be cited as Scottopsyllus Apostolov & Marinov, 1988.
Kunz (1981) divided Scottopsyllus in three subgenera: Scottopsyllus, Intermedopsyllus Kunz, 1962, and Wellsopsyllus Kunz, 1981. Apostolov and Marinov’s (1988) type fixation for Scottopsyllus also applies to its nominotypical subgenus Scottopsyllus Apostolov & Marinov, 1988 (ICZN Art. 67.1.1). Kunz (1981: 7) fixed Paramesochra gigas Wells, 1965a as the type of the subgenus Wellsopsyllus by original designation. Intermedopsyllus was originally proposed as a new genus (Kunz 1962: 252) for Leptopsyllus intermedius Scott & Scott, 1895b and Paramesochra minuta Nicholls, 1939b but since no mention of type fixation was made in either of Kunz’s (1962, 1981) papers, the genus-group name has remained unavailable. The subgeneric name Intermediopsyllus subgen. nov. (corrected spelling!) is formally made available herein as an intentionally new name (ICZN Art. 16.1) by fixing Leptopsyllus intermedius as the type (ICZN Art. 13.3) and by making bibliographic reference to Kunz’s (1981: 14) diagnosis which differentiates the taxon from the other subgenera, Wellsopsyllus Kunz, 1981 and Scottopsyllus Apostolov & Marinov, 1988 (ICZN Art. 13.1.2). The species described by Kunz (1992: 86) under the name Scottopsyllus (? Intermedopsyllus) smirnovi is considered species incertae sedis in this subgenus (cf. Wells 2007: 75).
The Principle of Priority requires that if a name in use for a taxon is found to be unavailable it must be replaced by the next oldest available name from among its synonyms, including the names of the contained taxa of the same group (ICZN Art. 23.3.5). Since Scottopsyllus Kunz, 1962 was found to be unavailable and has no potentially valid synonym (i.e. that contains the type species of the former genus), the name of the genus and nominotypical subgenus becomes Wellsopsyllus Kunz, 1981. The revised species composition of the genus Wellsopsyllus is summarized in Table 2. [details]